Chapter: 764 - Final Preparations (Patreon)

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Tala and Anatalis stood looking toward the west, even though the trees in that direction were hardly different from those in any other, lighting excepted.

She gave a simple twist of her will, and all sound was cut off, ensuring their discussion would be kept between them, even as the other powerful members of their alliance prepared for the imminent clash, gathering toward the east side of the clearing.

The great wolf let out a chuffing sigh. “The elk hid his strength well in our previous clashes.” He gave Tala a sidelong glance. “I had almost convinced myself that just myself and my Pack could come and slay him, once we had a few more of the sirelings advance.”

Tala grunted. “That wouldn’t have gone well.”

“Indeed.” He snarled briefly. “I suspect it is worse than you are assuming. Remember, my domain is wherever the Pack is.”

She frowned for just an instant, then her eyes widened. “Oh… Oh, my.”

“Indeed.” His head shifted once more to look out. “It would have been a direct clash of domains, and we would have lost.”

“That… That doesn’t seem like it should be the case, but I might just be assuming and extrapolating because he is a classically prey animal.”

That got a sharp-toothed grin in return. “The wolf culls the herd because the herd is not actually a unified will. It is the illusion of safety. If the herd were to face the wolf united?” He chuckled, deep and low. “Well, animals that behave thus must be hunted very differently. The Forest Spirit and his offspring have moved beyond their base nature. He is the will of his herd. As such, he has no member more advanced than your Paragons, but with his backing? In his domain? That is quite sufficient.”

They both turned and looked toward Walden, the immortal elk radiating a power that roiled a mix of colors from green through blue and even dipping into purple.

The power that Tala filled his non-superficial domain with was only Reforged in power density, but it had been at the upper reaches to that range. When she took the next step, Ascending, the expanded dimensionality was no longer a direct part of her, but it was still connected, and therefore had been pulled upward as her entire being thrummed with power and her density rose as a unified whole. It didn’t fully breach that next demarcation, but it was tantalizingly close.

Anatalis broke the momentary silence. “He could make our task impossible, but he’s proven his loyalty.”

Tala nodded even as Walden stood, blowing a hurricane of air in something that seemed quite close to a human’s long-suffering sigh. “I must admit, I was concerned, but even if all he offered was the chance of preventing the Forest Spirit’s return in some form or another, it was worth it.”

The Pack Alpha growled in agreement. “There are enough worthy hunts in this world without the need to dredge up the same prey over and over.”

She grunted affirmatively. “Indeed.” She took a deep breath in, then gave a long exhale. “So? Will the Pack be enough to counter the Forest Spirit and his offspring? Or do we need to devote others to aid in the cause.”

Anatalis looked her way, hesitating when Terry was suddenly on Tala’s shoulder. Tala didn’t comment or react, but she was slightly surprised. The terror bird had gained yet greater control and finesse. If she hadn’t been bonded to him—and if he hadn’t appeared on her shoulder—she would likely not have noticed the moment of his arrival.

-He’s the best little murder bird.-

Indeed…

The god-beast’s eyes narrowed for a moment. “You wish to fight at our side, feathered hunter?”

Terry shimmied, fluffing out his feathers, before he chirped an affirmative.

It was a disconcertingly resonant sound from such a small-seeming creature.

Anatalis gave a lupine grin.

“We will be honored to have you on our front.”

Terry chirped again, then settled down on Tala’s shoulder.

She reached up and scritched the back of his head, causing him to close his eyes and tilt his beak up in contentment.

With the need for privacy well and truly gone, Tala released her restriction, gathering the strongest fighters of the alliance close.

She opened a portal into Ironhold where many were continuing their preparations so that they could hear as well.

There were fewer advanced fighters than would have been ideal, but with the need to keep the population centers safe against potential secondary forces—as well as other threats that didn’t conveniently disappear just because Tala wanted them to—this really was the greatest force they could hope for.

From the arcanes, there were dozens of Eskau and Pillar pairs, representing myriad Houses. There were also a few individual combatants of power, including those from the communities of the Wandering Wilds. Those arcanes present ranged from newly raised to office and barely Mature, to Eskau Meallain, sitting comfortably at Hallowed—now all but bursting with Hallowed-level magical density.

From the gated, there were Archons aplenty, from Fused up through Tala as the only Ascending. Rane was the only Reforged present now, and Tala deeply disliked that she still didn’t fully understand whatever threats were keeping the others close to their various cities. She also was less than pleased that the one secondary force of Black Legion that they knew of was moving on Marliweather, requiring Master Xeel’s absence from this coming clash. Regardless, they had a handful of Paragons, and a fully ten Defender teams of battle tested and hardened Refined.

Most of their forces, unfortunately, were at the lower end, as made sense, but that didn’t make them any less a part of the gathered powers.

The final groups were those directly attached to the two most powerful figures present.

The simplest were the Talons, now with Ascending level power flowing through their bodies, burning at their inscriptions and deepening their natural magics by the moment.

In fact, they were currently acting quite against their training, flaring their power until their inscriptions sputtered out—burned away for momentary, unneeded, flares of strength and enhancement—then stepping through the reinscriber that had been copied from Tala’s sanctum for Talon use.

It was a rather extreme step, but when Tala saw just how quickly the new level of power was able to eat away at the precious metal tattoos, she understood the reasoning.

Every Talon wanted to be able to be in the coming fight as long as possible, and having to switch out simply because their inscriptions had been worn to begin with wasn’t acceptable to these rather special warriors.

It helped that Mistress Holly had—as usual for the woman—pre-created schemata for the Talons’ use once Tala advanced.

Tala had a momentary realization as she saw one of the Talons come out of the reinscriber, a flick of power healing the entry wounds from the various metals now woven throughout their being. That’s her authority I feel alongside their power, isn’t it.

-Yup… Seems so.-

…And she likely gains both power and authority from more powerful people using her inscriptions.

-Yup… Seems so.-

…And now there will be more than a hundred Ascending-level beings, all but fully relying on her inscriptions, her schemata, specifically designed by her for them.

-Yup.-

That… I think we need to have a chat with Mistress Holly after this is all said and done.

-Seems so.-

Tala sent a flat look toward Alat, and the alternate interface broke, chuckling.

-It’s not that bad. If Mistress Holly wished humanity ill, she’d have taken us away from an independent, deep well of power and hooked us on a path to strength and magic heavily dependent on her influence and which fed her authority at every turn.-

…You’re not very funny.

-I’m hilarious.-

Agree to disagree.

-Eh, I’ve of two minds about that.-

Tala closed her eyes, fighting a chuckle. You’re terrible.

-Yes, we are.-

The final group gathering behind Tala—toward the east—was, of course, the Pack. The arcanous wolves that had come with them had been, proportionally, the hardest hit of those fighting for the alliance, with nearly half of their number wiped out as they put themselves in harm’s way to claim kills and keep their allies alive.

It was something that Tala had sensed, but not focused on, as those wolves were fighting on the bottom rung of the various battles.

They were decidedly helpful as, even now, Tala would have trouble fighting her opposition on the other side if she were being swamped with tides of lesser enemies, but that didn’t actually bring those clashes into prominence for Tala.

She felt… conflicted about that, but neither the wolves nor Anatalis seemed to regret the sacrifices, so she decided to put them aside for the moment.

The Pack had been reduced, a full third of the arch-wolves having been slain in their direct confrontations with the Forest Spirit’s herd.

Now that Tala considered it—given the context Anatalis had so recently highlighted—it was likely only the presence and continued opposition of the combined authority and will of herself, Anatalis, and Walden—each bolstered by various other factors—that allowed those wolves to have returned to their mother for recreation.

The Forest Spirit’s trap was insidious, and Tala almost had to applaud the elk’s long-term thinking. From what Anatalis had said. The Forest Spirit had lost every single clash between the two god-beasts for the last thousand years or more. It now seemed likely that every loss had simply been adding to the bait.

Vidarra’s wisdom in holding her mate back is revealed to be quite sound.

-Indeed.-

Regardless, the Pack was still unarguably the most powerful group in the allied forces, containing three god-beasts of unquestionable power.

Interestingly, the sireling was still alive, and now he sported a few new scars with obvious pride. The wolves that had been overcome and slain were his siblings closest in age, with the older wolves having fared better through a combination of power and experience.

It seemed that the sireling had taken a good bit of caution, among other things, from his fights with Tala.

Good. A smile pulled at her lips.

Her gaze swept those gathered around her—whether on the superficial or elsewise—and she gave a firm nod. “It comes down to us, to this next battle.”

Her voice resonated throughout, carrying her simple words to all.

“I hope that the Leshkin and Black Legion remain combined and all come at us, otherwise, we will be fighting only one of the clashes this day. We have forces able to engage the lessers of both replicating armies—those who cannot help with the higher struggle—but there are cities that might fall if one or both of those forces fell upon them.”

She sighed.

“This must be a decisive engagement. That means that I must permanently slay as many of the advanced automata as possible, even if that makes my fights more precarious… Even if that lets some escape momentarily. A dead automaton that wasn’t ended needs to be considered an enemy who retreated. We’ve been doing our best to operate in that mindset, but it bears repeating. Don’t forget it.” She grimaced. “In this clash, that extends to the arch-beasts as well. The Leshkin have always held this position for humanity, which has led to millennia of repeated clashes.” She caught the eyes of the void Paragon. “If you can end their spirits, don’t hold back.”

The woman seemed to consider for a long moment before she nodded. “As you say, Mistress of War.”

Tala quirked a smile. That was a new one. Still, it didn’t bear highlighting. “If they send their lessers elsewhere, we will need to keep everyone below…” She grimaced, wanting to say Paragon or Honored, but knowing that wouldn’t be borne. “Refined or Elder from the field. Those of you who are Fused or Mature will have to remain out of the conflict.” She looked to the pack alphas of the arcanous wolves. “Your packs will not be called upon unless the mass of our forces enter the fray.”

Tala felt the flexing of authority from Anatalis that let the wolves understand her.

They seemed… accepting. That was the only way she could describe it. “If the Black Legion and Leshkin are distinct forces, then gated will focus on the Leshkin, and the gateless will focus on the Black Legion. The Pack, Terry, and Walden will face the Forest Spirit and his herd. I will face the Black Legion leadership.” She took a deep breath and nodded. “Any of us.” She locked eyes with Anatalis before sweeping her gaze across the others. “Any who needs assistance should ask. The Talons will fill in the gaps and move people to get healing as they are able, but if they aren’t enough, or if they are otherwise occupied, it will fall to the various leaders to react accordingly.”

The plan made sense to all present. It neatly sectioned the battlefield while keeping them interconnected. The Black Legion had shown capacities to mess with gates in the past, and if they’d managed to expand that portion of their abilities, having the arcanes face them would limit the damage that could be done on that front.

Similarly, the gated were almost entirely from the Cycling Cities, and given Tala’s quick advancement was rather exceptional, most of those present had fought Leshkin in previous cycles, giving them experience against that foe.

Finally, the third type of enemy—the Forest Spirit’s herd—were the specific prey of the Pack, no matter how that view had been distorted. They would be outnumbered in all likelihood, but with Terry there to back them up and their general superiority one-on-one—despite a preference for pack tactics—they should be able to hold their own.

They all knew that no plan would survive first contact with the enemy, but they all had their marching orders.

The bulk of their forces—the weaker members of all factions—would wait in Ironhold, to be deployed by Alat or Talons at need. Those that weren’t already there were moved in, and the units formed up.

Tala sensed the slates that Alat placed near each group, following the Talon tactical model so that no fighter would be ignorant if they were pulled into the fray. Information is king.

-Verily.-

Tala stopped, freezing mid-conversation, her focus on Alat. At the same time, she felt the expanding aura that had just washed over the clearing, not seeking to claim mastery of the underlying layers even as it strove to establish itself. Alat?

The alternate interface sent the feeling of recentering herself. -I’m… fine.-

He’s here. Tala turned to see the figure that strode out, the others they were to face close on his heels.

The leader of the Black Legion had arrived.

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